Basket of Thoughts

Thoughts from my mind to the internet

Who Can You Trust?

Nathan Smith

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May 6, 2020

There’s too much information out there these days and there’s a piece for every slant and view you can think of. That being said, it boils down to what sources can you really trust? I really just don’t know. The sides are so divided now that it doesn’t take a genius to see that there are specific news stations that portray their side to what they want you to see. It falls easily into ears of those that also see things from that side, right or left. Therein lies the danger. I’m constantly on the lookout for the truth and I feel a lot of other people try to be as well. However, many still stick to the news that pacifies them and they like to continue that trend. If you go to the other station they have complete opposite stories to support their agendas therefore the left stays with left news and right goes right. Where is the middle? If you read my blog you see I bring it up in many of my posts when I write about political stuff. I just want to know what’s real. I find myself guilty of sticking to the same news station that typically steers toward what I would prefer to be reliable but does tend to slant left. My reasoning for this is because I do know that Trump is a pathological liar. Not even a good one at that. He just blows off his lies and piles on more. I was listening to a video of him talking today and I was paying attention and flat out heard him lie by saying something completely opposite from what he had said in the first place. The sad thing is he does it all the time and there are people that think he’s the best. There’s no talking any sense into the Trumpers either. Yet, somehow they like to call the opposing side, sheep. Ok, we’re sheep but you’re blindly following a dude that blatantly lies about everything. Gotcha’ pal, you keep on winning you true patriot, you. It drives me fucking insane. I was talking with a friend of mine about it a few weeks ago and I’ve come to the same conclusion as he has. They’re fucking fascists. They truly are. Now, I say this strictly because I do know for a fact Trump is full of shit. They are the only people that say otherwise. Those “fake news” stories tend to be on the right side agenda from what I have observed. Any station that twist around and supports blatant lies I’ve heard with my own ears can’t be credible to me. However, there are stories I read from the right that make me think differently and then I find a news story that debunks it from the left. I just don’t know anymore. All I do know is Trump is a liar and those that blindly follow him are fascists. That’s all I’ve got to say about that.

Pet Peeves

Nathan Smith

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May 4, 2020

I couldn’t help but notice the sink with the dishes in it this morning at the office building I work at. There is currently a post-it on the dishwasher at the moment stating it is out of service for the time being, yet I was still irked by seeing them in there. It opened my eyes to the blatant disregard that people seem to have for public spaces. I’ll openly admit I’m not necessarily the neatest person around but I have respect for my others so I make sure I’m courteous when it comes to public domains. It would’ve taken just a few moments to clean the ones in the sink… I guess I should’ve done it but I was busy WASHING MY OWN. I’m glad in a sense that it happened because it gave me a topic to write about today. Some of my pet peeves. Most of them are related to simple courteous things that it seems some people missed the car on the courtesy train. I hate seeing shopping carts taking up a parking space or just fucking hanging out in the lot somewhere. They made the carriage corrals for a reason you dipshits. Put the fuckin cart away like a civilized person. That one really pisses me off. People that take their dog to the beach and don’t bring a shit bag. C’mon, really?! Actually it doesn’t even have to be the beach just anywhere public. Be courteous and pick it up. Fuckheads that drive around in their car late at night blasting shitty fuckin music but they think it’s ill because it’s got good bass or some shit. You’re not impressing anyone, turn that shit down and go on your way. Thankfully, I don’t have to deal with that one much anymore but there was a time when I did. Oh, I guess I can say the same about the motorcycles with the super loud mufflers. Yeah, you’re weak too dude and your bike’s a piece of shit. I bet one on one with my hyundai I come out on the better end of the collision. Jesus, I think I’m starting to get off my hinges. I’ve had a lot of angry rants here lately. Fuck it, that’s what this is for. This is my therapy, and the above you read are just a few of my pet peeves. If you fall in one of those categories above, be a better person and do the opposite.

Family Ties

Nathan Smith

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April 30, 2020

Once again I was listening to one of Joe Rogan’s podcast episodes at work. I like most of them that he does because he seems like he’d be a great guy to talk to. He also has had some great guests and has introduced me to many different people. He has had lots of comedians on them and I like comedy a lot and it has helped to expose me to some that I have grown to enjoy. I also enjoy listening to them because it feeds my brain and helps to give me ideas on what to write about. Today was no different. While listening to it they started to discuss some of the businesses that have been crushed from the pandemic. Notably discussing movie theaters. Joe stated his opinion and he feels they could be fucked. I have a feeling he could be right. Especially now that they started to have Apple TV be able to stream new movies that were supposed to be getting released during this time. The guest stated that would suck as she enjoys to go to the theater to see a movie. They discussed that feeling when they’ve gone to a movie and everyone enjoys and laughs at the same parts. It reminded me of a couple movies that always remain classics in my mind. Both of them I had seen in the theaters and both of them I had seen with my dad. One of them was Howard Stern’s Private Parts. It was for my 15th birthday and that was what I wanted to do for my birthday. I remember that was during a phase where I would sleep on the couch a lot because the t.v. was down there. I would watch Howard Stern’s show and it was on late night because it was risque. Hmmm… while Howard’s show was funny and provided me with laughs there were other things that kept my interest. I was coming coming out of the ages of innocence and delving into the curiousness of sex. It didn’t take me long to realize my sexuality. I liked women and Howard Stern’s show late night on E was very helpful in that discovery. They only had a transparent blur over the private parts (pun intended). With everyone else asleep, being by myself, and that being on I found new uses for socks. Anyways, that’s beside the point. The point was is that we both enjoyed the movie. I still watch it if I see it on tv. The other movie it made me think of was Something About Mary. We had arrived a little later than we anticipated so we missed the first few parts of the movie but just in time for the franks above the beans scene. That set the pace for another movie that I love and will still watch. We both enjoyed that one together as well. It was good bonding time. I was fortunate to have a majority of my developmental years in a typical, dysfunctional, family. I don’t use the term dysfunctional as a diss either. It’s just the reality. I think any family of 4 or more is. Despite all being family everyone is their own person. That’s what makes the bonds and ties. That’s what fuels the love for each other. That’s what makes blood thicker than water.

History Lesson

Nathan Smith

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April 29, 2020

Today, I decided to listen to a 40 minute documentary on the Spanish Flu. It was really interesting to know that it is very similar to COVID-19. Some of the symptoms that were reported about the Spanish Flu are strikingly similar to those that have been reported about COVID. Notably, the loss of your sense of smell. The scariest thing to take from it was that it came in waves. The first one was not bad but when the two following waves came, the virus mutated and was even more deadly. More people died from the Spanish Flu than WW1, WW2, Vietnam, and the Iraq and Afghanistan wars combined. A main reason for it doing so was the fact that the government decided to downplay it…. Sound familiar? I just figured I would give myself a little bit of a history lesson on the Spanish Flu and I’m curious on if many other people have even bothered. I still feel like this virus is being downplayed. It has been handled a little better than the Spanish Flu which is good. My biggest concern is what the following waves will do when it rears its ugly head again… What am I saying again for? It’s still currently active. Also, the death count for the Spanish Flu that they’ve calculated is probably lower than it actually was. The cause being, the hospitals were so overwhelmed, they simply stopped counting in some instances. So you may hear some people that are touting that the number of deaths from Coronavirus may be less because they are counting in people that died as a virus death when possibly it could have been another underlying condition. Well, when you’re overwhelmed with a new virus and people are dying during it in the hospitals, I’m sure that it’s not going to be 100% accurate because you have so many at such a fast pace that the cause of death in the report doesn’t matter. It’s still a death regardless and you’re focusing on trying to prevent another. Things definitely could have been handled better in the beginning but we have a spoiled, entitled, rich brat as the president. Recently, he was trying to coax the dr’s to say there wouldn’t be resurgence in the fall. It’s as if he has his fingers in his ears and his eyes closed trying to block out reality. Instead of admitting any fault in not taking the bull by the horns in the beginning he just throws blame somewhere else. Enough about him. I’m not sure how many people have actually bothered to take the time to investigate the similarities of this and the Spanish Flu but I decided I should and therefore I’m relaying what I gathered to you. If you want another eye opening piece of information. I also listened to a documentary called Planet Of The Humans. That one was a bummer. Feel free to look it up on youtube and see for yourself. It’s eye opening and it’s sad. Perhaps you may not want to because of that and I understand but realize that it’s something the public should check out and try to gather something from the message told in it. Hope you enjoyed my brief history lesson. Let’s hope we aren’t heading down the same path.

Go To Sleep

Nathan Smith

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April 28, 2020

I was listening to a Joe Rogan podcast today at work today and he was talking with independent journalist, Tim Poole. While listening to the topics they discussed, which was really all over the map, it made my brain click as I thought of how things have changed so much in the last 20 years. I started thinking of some of the new terms and things that are said/written now and how much they fucking irritate me. I guess you could say they “Trigger” me. A term that seems to be used now for people that get pissed off about something, usually something political. That is one that pisses me off because it’s fucking stupid. I’m not triggered, fuckface. I’m pissed off, or if we want to be a little more soft, angry. Another one I really can’t stand is “Woke”. How that term came to be, I don’t know but basically it means being aware not to hurt people’s feelings regarding many things such as sex, race, gender, etc. The thing that pisses me off about woke is that it is more than a word but a movement in the sense of being a social justice warrior. This movement has then led to a cancel culture where people can be targeted for things that people think offended certain groups of people and it can be shit that had been said several years ago and in some cases has ruined some people’s careers. As I continue writing this post, I realize that it circles back to my previous post in regards to technology and being dumbed down. Not only does it dumb you down but now it’s an archive for all the woke trolls to sift through shit people have mentioned in the past. Trolls, another term that is useless to me. What happened to just calling people that suck, an asshole? Now, it seems they are called trolls. Mostly the term applies to people on the internet who are complete losers and have nothing better to do than start shit. It’s so easy for people to talk shit nowadays because they can do it from thousands of miles away and don’t have to deal with the possibility of saying it to someone’s face and getting their ass beat. Everyone’s a tough guy when they don’t have to face the person they are putting down. Moving on, as I think of it, this surge of change in our culture has changed the movies that come out now… I just thought of it because I watched Predator the other night. The 1987 original classic. In the beginning of the movie they are talking on the choppa and Blaine (played by Jesse Ventura) is offering chewing tobacco to the other guys and they all seem to refuse and he states “Nothing but a bunch of slack jawed, faggots in here. This shit’ll make you a sexual tyrannosaurus. Just like me.” If you’re woke, you’re going to try to cancel me for that. Well, it’s not something I said I just quoted a movie. The reason I bring that specific quote from the movie is glaringly obvious. It had been so long since I had seen the movie it clicked in my head that the way things are going. There will never be a dialogue like that in a movie these days. The Woke will come down on them and the movie would get cancelled. Also, there’s not many original ideas anymore. They do nothing but remakes… they all fucking suck. I hope that some day the woke will go back to sleep.

Dumbed Down

Nathan Smith

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April 22, 2020

There was a time when I had a fantastic memory. Throughout my years in school I was able to remember things effortlessly and if not for that, I probably would’ve done much worse in school. As time has progressed and along with that, technology, my memory has taken a nose dive. Technology has made everything too easy. There’s no effort in anything really. It has dumbed down society and it’s outright scary. It’s so easy to get misinformation because we think we have it at the tips of our fingers. With everything we look up there’s some sort of counter to it that gives an opposing side or view. The sad thing is that there isn’t a whole lot of middle. It’s all hard one way or the other it seems. Anyways, my mind is drifting in a political sway and I’m so over that shit so I’m going to change gears back to the point. Being dumbed down by technology. I remember having to remember my friend’s phone numbers. Nowadays, I’m lucky I remember mine and my wife’s. Technology has caused us to not have to do any real thinking. It’s smarter than us. The convenience is nice but at the same time where does it stop? I remember when The Matrix came out thinking what a cool, bullshit, action movie. Now, at times I find myself wondering if we are living in it. I suppose cloudy memory comes with age and I probably shouldn’t take it heart as much. I don’t think I thought too much of it until when I had been posting up my South America trip and while there is a lot I do remember from that trip there’s also a lot I don’t recall off the top of my head. When I read though it is when the nostalgia kicks in. I guess because as you get older you store more things in your mind and some stuff gets deleted. The brain is just like a computer in many ways, unfortunately now we rely on the computers for just about everything. We’ve become… yes, you guessed it. Dumbed Down.

Time Will Tell

Nathan Smith

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April 17, 2020

I just glanced at the breaking news that Trump is doing something to help the farmers. I couldn’t help but notice how he mentioned the farmers at on point had been targeted by China in regards to suppressing them. I could be jumping the gun and I don’t mean to create any type of hysteria but I had a weird thought of Trump wanting to wage war with China. He seems to always mention them and always has. Is it his mentality of always wanting to be the best that he has a fear of China because they are a large nation? He’s always talked shit about China and the more I think about it I feel like we are starting to head back into history. I feel like the fear of communism could come back again. If anything, this pandemic has done a good job of showing how dangerous a communist regime could be. He’d have a good cause and probably a lot of support to go after them. I don’t know, I really didn’t even want to write about this shit tonight but it’s what popped in my head and what happened to come on as I was starting to write. What I was going to write about is not much better than the scenario I’ve created above. I was thinking about how I think another depression is inevitable as part of the fallout of this pandemic. I feel like I will be okay, just because I have confidence in the company I work for and that I would still be employed. I’ve also worked for the company for a long time and know my shit so I have value as well. I think that’s all I’ve got to say now.

Fan Boy

Nathan Smith

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April 16, 2020

It’s funny how things change over time. I used to listen to music on pandora at work. Now, most of the time I find myself listening to a few different podcasts on youtube during the day. Most of them are just goofy comedy shit because if you’re laughing you’re doing good. It helps to keep me in a positive mood. Today, I was listening to one of my favorites. Your Mom’s House. While interviewing their guest on the episode they were discussing certain interactions with fans they’ve had. Particularly the ones that are a bit annoying and just continue to keep the interaction going longer than it should have and in the ways they’ve handled it. It brought me back to when I was in my 20’s. I haven’t personally met too many famous people in my life. I’ve seen some and usually tend to leave them be just out of respect. On the first time I truly met someone who I feel was famous I was a complete fan boy. Also, completely fucking drunk. It was the lead singer and songwriter for the band Rusted Root, Michael Glabicki. He was doing a solo acoustic tour and he played at a very small place near where I live called The Brickhouse. I went to the show with my brother and our friend Matt. The same dudes I do most of my traveling with. We got there early and Lo and Behold, there he was just hanging out at the bottom of the stairs. Holy shit, I thought to myself. I didn’t think anything of it and went up to him shook his hand and he was very polite. I told him I was looking forward to the show. I let him be at that moment and commenced to drink with the guys. The show was great and afterwards he sat on the edge of the stage and was signing CD’s. I was wasted at this point so I went up and sat next to him and he we talked for awhile. He signed the set list and gave it to me as well as signed a couple of the CD’s I bought off him. It was a great experience, however listening to them talk on that podcast made me think of that moment and I thought to myself, fuck! I think I was that guy. I couldn’t tell at the time though because of how drunk I was and the fact that he was super cool. Who knows, maybe he didn’t mind it and maybe he liked the attention. He handled it well regardless.

Other people I’ve seen out and about or met are Ryan Adams, I walked by him on the street in Portland, Maine a couple hours before he was going to be playing. I’ve met Mike Scott and Steve Wickham of The Waterboys in Boston after they performed. Mike was promoting his autobiography and was signing copies of it after the show and Steve went with him so they could perform together. I also saw Steve Wickham on the streets of Cork, Ireland a few hours before seeing The Waterboys play that night. Daryl Hall has a restaurant/club that he opened in Pawling, New York several years ago. On the first New Year’s Eve that he had the place he was performing with the band there, no Oates but that was ok. It’s a small intimate club and my wife and I went up for that. She was my girlfriend back then. After he performed he hung out and took photos with everyone. I wanted to give him some breathing room so I kinda hung back for awhile. So long I almost missed my chance as he was getting ready to leave and security was keeping people away so he could leave. My wife helped me out and asked if would mind taking one with the both of us because she had gotten one with him already but I wanted one with the 3 of us. He was super cool about it and waved off security for one more photo. That meant a lot to me. Last but not least, on the following morning I was coming back into the hotel after smoking a cigarette and walking towards me was the sax player for Hall and Oates. He’s easy to recognize with the beard and the long hair. I saw him and said Hey. I saw him give me the quick glance of oh fuck. I made it quick and simply stuck my hand out and shook his and said “Great show last night.” He smiled, said thanks and we went our ways like ships passing in the night. Those are my celeb encounters thus far. I’ve been fortunate none of them were asses.

Little Lies

Nathan Smith

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April 15, 2020

I’m too honest for my own good sometimes. The best example of that was last night. My wife had found a frame for a picture that we had gotten taken a couple months back. She was happy she had found it, she likes to creep around the neighborhood and find treasures that people are looking to throw out. This frame was one of them. She brought it in and being myself I said “It’s not gonna work, it’s too fucking big.”

That wasn’t the right answer. Needless to say it made her upset and we had a minor beef about it. Now, I’m a honest to goodness knucklehead and should know by now that sometimes its just better to lie. I wasn’t really thinking much of it when I said it to her at the time and I felt bad as it had hurt her feelings… The truth often hurts and that’s why there’s so much bullshit in life. Many people are clearly much smarter than me and simply lie to make their life easier. I’m here to announce I am going to try to start doing that as well. My wife and I talked about it this morning and when I got home from work I got confirmation. I asked her “So you’re giving me permission to lie to you?”

She said “If you know I’m happy about something, yes, don’t burst my bubble.”

Okay, so this will be a strange change for me but nonetheless, it should make my life a hell of a lot easier as long as I can stick with it. Wish me luck.

Quarantine Thoughts

Nathan Smith

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April 14, 2020

I’ve mentioned in an earlier post that this quarantine has not really affected me too much. I have been fortunate to still be working and I don’t go out too much in the first place. Nonetheless, I am still aware of everything going on. Many others are not as fortunate as I am in regards to working and the quarantine is making an impact. People are definitely starting to get stir crazy I feel. It’s getting in their heads that it’s a government conspiracy to control us. Now I don’t trust the government either, but for the whole world to collaborate?? That’s some serious planning. My view on it is that this is preparation for a worse type of illness. One you can’t help but ignore due to a higher death rate. It’s been visible with this one, but because it’s being compared to the flu people are very speculative. I get it, I had been too. To be honest it doesn’t matter to me. I have been quarantining ok so far. I’ve liked it because it has created a cause for renovation. Talk shows are being done from homes and through webcams. It’s not the best but still I like something different. I like a little bit of chaos. I like to see the reaction and how people hopefully can come together for a greater good. I’m not quite sure we are there. I think it started out like that but the longer the quarantine goes and the longer people are unable to work to pay bills, well shit’s going to get nasty. It’s getting close to that. The stimulus was pretty much a joke from how I saw it, especially with how long it is taking for people to get them. It’s going to be gone by the time it’s received for many I bet. If the country isn’t opened by then, it’s going to be bad. I just hope that when things do open up it’s not too soon. China is starting to have flare ups again. Can we believe those reports??? I don’t know, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was true. What if it mutates to something else? I don’t want to cause any paranoia but I think they are things to think about and consider. I wish everyone well during these times and please don’t go crazy. Before you go down desperation road and want to rob people, how bout just simply asking before getting violent? Hopefully, they will give you what you may need within obvious reason. Food, shelter, water. Those are essential needs that no one should have to fight for. That’s if it were a perfect world. We all know it’s not but isn’t it something we should strive for?

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